Equal Parts Coffee Podcast

This week we sit down with the Fermentation Project coffees, a collaboration between James Hoffmann and Lucia Solis, and taste four processing methods from the same Guatemalan farm side by side. Along the way we get into what fermentation, inoculation, infusion, and co-fermentation actually mean, and how we feel about all of it.

Check out the Fermentation Tasting Events at Mundos on Friday (10/9 at HQ) and Saturday (10/10 at 305)

Fermentation Explained: https://youtu.be/Iq34gq2ihMk?si=kn_nGGG70RFFzpdR

Fermentation Project Livestream: https://youtu.be/Iy8m7AbZVm0?si=7PdUbXYIZrxCYEyD

Grab a box set: https://www.mundosroastingco.com/coffee/p/fermentation-box-set

0:00 Intro

0:48 What Is the Fermentation Project?

2:39 Mundos Tasting Event

5:32 Wild Fermentation

7:36 Mechanical Demucilage

9:10 Lactobacillus Inoculated

10:46 Yeast Inoculated

13:40 Favorites and Standouts

19:44 Why Coffee Is Fermented

22:52 Co-Ferment vs. Infusion vs. Inoculation

29:07 Our Take on Co-Ferments

35:07 Coffee Culture and Quality

41:29 Wrap-Up

This week we're doing a deep dive on the AeroPress. Where it came from, why it's stuck around for so long, and why we still think it deserves a spot on every coffee bar. It's different enough from a pourover or espresso, we share our go-to recipes.

Nic's AeroPress Recipe
Inverted

1:8.4 ratio

25g Coffee

210°F (99°C)
00:00 - 00:20: Carefully pour to 150g

Screw on cap
Singular gentle swirl, incoroporating all the grounds.

01:05: Flip AeroPress

Slowly press without overpressing until all water has left the puck

Add 60g bypass

Enjoy!

https://aeropress.com

0:00 Intro

0:41 Forgotten AeroPresses

3:34 The AeroPress

4:35 What Zero Bypass Means

7:07 Origin Story: Alan Adler and the Aerobie

9:32 The AeroPress Go

11:14 The AeroPress Clear

16:28 The AeroPress XL

17:59 The AeroPress Premium (Glass)

22:32 What Makes the AeroPress Unique

28:56 Nic's AeroPress Recipe

35:49 Iced AeroPress?

41:01 Is It a Must-Have?

43:11 The AeroPress Stainless Steel

51:17 Wrap Up

New to Specialty Coffee? You're in the right place.
On today's episode we go over the 3 stages we'd point anyone towards; Cafe, Learning and Home Brewing. Along the way we get into why "acquired taste" isn't a real argument against a coffee, what to order first, and how much you actually need to spend to brew well at home.

Books and resources mentioned:

The World Atlas of Coffee by James Hoffman

https://www.amazon.com/World-Atlas-Coffee-3rd-explained/dp/1784729868/ref=sr_1_1

Cafe Imports ed+u

https://edubycafeimports.thinkific.com

Gear:

Fellow Stagg EKG Kettle
https://fellow.sjv.io/kettle

Baratza Encore ESP
https://www.baratza.com/en-us/product/encoretm-esp-zcg495

Fellow Opus 2

https://fellow.sjv.io/opus-2

Hario v60

https://www.hario-usa.com/products/vd-01t

Kalita Wave

https://kalitausa.com/products/kalita-wave-185-stainless-steel-coffee-dripper

Fellow Espresso Series 1

https://fellow.sjv.io/series-1

Meraki Espresso Machine

https://tidd.ly/4ukKTDh

0:00 Intro

1:11 Drinking Cortados Tonight

3:25 Getting Into Specialty Coffee

4:52 You Don't Have to "Acquire" a Taste

7:56 Stage 1: The Cafe

9:12 What to Look For in a Good Cafe

13:01 Talk to Your Barista

14:13 The Free Coffee Bet

16:00 Milk Drinks vs. Filter Coffee

23:58 Start a Coffee Notebook

30:34 Stage 2: Learning

36:20 Stage 3: Home Brewing

39:09 Building a Budget Setup

45:33 Why Water Matters

48:35 Dialing In Your Recipe

53:26 Knowing What You Like

55:16 The Best Cup of Coffee

57:50 Wrap Up

We catch up after a short break, recap Roast Retreat 2026 in Detroit, run through a wave of new coffees currently at Mundos, and share details on the Fermentation Project.

Fermentation Box Set: https://www.mundosroastingco.com/coffee/p/fermentation-box-set

James Hoffmann Fermentation Project Video: https://youtu.be/Iq34gq2ihMk?si=B3W4Q_zYt2HF2jH5

Podium Coffee Club: https://tidd.ly/4qo2NCs

0:00 The Fermentation Project

0:33 Intro

4:43 What We're Drinking

8:20 Coffee Bag Design Talk

12:21 Roast Retreat 2026 Recap

20:30 What's New at Mundos

22:31 Tangent: Why Cold Drinks Taste Sweeter

32:37 Rabbit Hole

43:39 What is The Fermentation Project?

53:44 Box Set, Tasting Event

59:22 Outro

We tackle one of coffee's most argued-about habits: rinsing your paper filter before you brew. Through a series of taste tests, we try to figure out whether it actually changes anything in the cup, or if it's just something we all do out of habit.

Do you rinse your paper filter before brewing?

0:00 Intro

1:23 Does Rinsing Your Filter Matter? 

3:19 Setting Up Test 

6:56 Tasting the Rinse Water 

12:19 Do Different Filters Change the Outcome? 

15:17 Does Pre-Wetting Affect Filtration? 

17:01 Hot Rinse vs Cold Rinse 

24:42 What We're Drinking 

32:00 Brewing the Real Test 

41:56 Blind Taste Test: V60 

47:26 Round Two: Kalita 

54:20 What Actually Caused the Difference?

Gabe Boscana has spent 26 years in specialty coffee, from barista at Gimme! Coffee to National Roasting Manager at Intelligentsia, Green Coffee Director at Sightglass, founder of his own roastery Máquina, and now Green Coffee Buyer at Bellwether Coffee. In this episode, we sit down with Gabe to talk about what it really means to buy green coffee, why the C-Market doesn't tell the full story, and what cafe owners need to understand about where their coffee actually comes from. One of the more honest conversations we've had on this show.

0:00 Intro 

0:57 Gabe's 26-Year Career in Specialty Coffee 

3:19 What Drew Gabe to Green Coffee Buying 

12:06 The Real Impact of Fair Prices on Farmers 

16:58 Should Roasters Rename Coffees to Make Them Marketable? 

22:11 Curating Bellwether's Coffee Marketplace 

35:06 Why Coffee Costs What It Costs 

42:43 How the Rising C-Market Affected Quality 

48:56 What New Roasters Underestimate 

59:04 What Cafe Owners Should Understand About Green Coffee 

59:46 If Gabe Could Change One Thing About Pricing 

Batch espresso scares us. Not because it's bad, but because what if it's actually good? 

When Valor Coffee posted that they were testing batch espresso, it got us thinking about the "shots die" rule and whether any of that actually holds up in a blind taste test.

We get into the tradeoffs, the perception problem on the cafe side, and what you're really giving up when you pull the barista further from the drink. 

What We're Drinking: https://www.mundosroastingco.com/coffee/p/colombia-cesar-ledesma-pink-bourbon

Say hi: [email protected]

equalpartscoffee.com

00:00 Intro

02:29 What We're Drinking

10:14 Valor Coffee

11:35 The Batched Espresso Dillemma

13:44 Blind taste test

16:00 First Attempt

20:15 Round 2

22:52 Results

27:31 Batch Espresso vs. Cold Brew Concentrate

32:03 Speed, Quality, Perception

34:20 The Barista Experience

37:39 Wrap Up

Meraki Gen 2: https://tidd.ly/4ukKTDh

Podium Coffee Club: https://tidd.ly/4qo2NCs

We got our hands on the Meraki Gen 2 espresso machine and have been using it daily. Built-in grinder, dual boiler, integrated scales for both grinding and brewing. On paper it has everything. In this episode we share our honest first impressions, break down what makes it stand out, and compare it to other machines in the same price range. Meraki sent us this machine but did not sponsor this video. Full review coming soon.

0:00 Intro

1:33 Are We Espresso or Milk?

6:33 Podium Coffee Club

7:07 What We're Drinking

8:21 Potato Defect Tangent

9:40 Tasting the Coffee

10:50 Meraki Gen 2

13:08 Ease of Use & Build Quality

14:02 What's Included in the Box

16:06 Meraki vs ES1

18:10 Built-In Grinder

19:35 Integrated Scales

25:10 Dual Boiler Benefits

29:09 Steam Wand Performance

33:10 Temperature Probe & Auto-Stop Feature

39:04 Menu Settings & Customization

41:51 Pre-Infusion Settings

43:39 The Car Analogy: Where Does the Meraki Fit?

45:21 Who Is This Machine For?

47:04 What's Coming Next

Morgan Eckroth: 2022 US Barista Champion, content creator, and Onyx Coffee Lab team member, sits down with us for an honest conversation about what it takes to compete at the highest level of coffee, how she builds signature drinks from scratch, and why hospitality is the thing she cares about most.

Find Morgan at @morgandrinkscoffee on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube, and on Substack at Coffee for Here.

0:31 Introductions

1:41 What We're Drinking

4:33 Who is Morgan Eckroth?

7:40 What is the US Barista Championship?

10:03 How Morgan Prepares for Competition

12:17 Bringing Competition Drinks to Cafes

14:06 Coffee Meets Cocktail Culture

16:49 Morgan's Creative Process

20:20 Culinary Influences in Coffee

21:29 Widening the Lens Beyond Coffee

22:44 From Barista to Career

24:10 When Coffee Became More Than a Job

25:55 Making Competition Accessible

27:40 The Power of Coffee Community

29:46 Advice for Aspiring Competitors

33:39 Defining Your Own Success

34:53 Morgan's Favorite Drink

37:44 Savory & Umami in Coffee

40:31 Fostering Creativity in Your Cafe

42:30 Barista League & Lowering Barriers

43:47 How to Start Preparing Now

45:25 The Future of Specialty Coffee

47:18 The Importance of Hospitality

49:19 Where to Find Morgan

Fellow Espresso Series 1: https://fellow.sjv.io/series-1

We've had some time with the Fellow ES1. Enough to move past first impressions and actually talk about it. In this episode we get into everyday home use, steaming, shot consistency, the price conversation, and where we think home espresso is heading.
☕️ What We're DrinkingColombia Finca El Chaferote II from Prodigal Coffee RoastersAiden Profile: https://brew.link/p/8jC2

Firmware video: https://youtu.be/2CS3TP-9aBE?si=Gv7b46Kch5plRh4c

0:00 - Open

1:12 - Intro

2:53 - What We're Drinking

7:24 - Owning the ES1

8:35 - Milk Steaming

10:33 - Full-size steam wand & drip tray thoughts

13:04 - Shot-to-shot consistency at home

15:18 - Why the ES1?

18:43 - App Integration Ideas

19:26 - The Bluetooth Lever Tangent

22:17 - Rabbit Hole

26:16 - Features we want to see fixed/added

27:30 - The hidden hot water spout.

33:46 - Who should (and shouldn't) buy this machine

38:33 - The home espresso grinder gap

41:22 - Fellow Opus 2 first thoughts

46:03 - Where home espresso is heading

49:34 - Outro